A travel firm which specialises in villa holidays has been acquired by Scottish outfit Brooklyn Travel.

Alcester-based Villa Select operates 365 luxury properties throughout Europe, the US, Caribbean and south-east Asia.

The company, which was formed in 1983, also has an office in Mallorca and was acquired for an undisclosed sum from ITC.

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Brooklyn Travel, said: "We are delighted to welcome all Villa Select colleagues and customers to the Brooklyn Travel family.

"While it is true that we are in expansion mode, we are only interested in organisations that share our culture of quality product and service at value for money prices.

"ITC are a fabulous company and I have known their chief executive for a long time.

"We agreed Villa Select as a brand is more suited to our portfolio than theirs.

"Our strategic path is one of building a portfolio of specialist brands which are performing well in their own right and may be assisted by our bulk buying power and our retail estate that is Stewart Travel.

"We have very ambitious plans to grow and develop Villa Select in a very short period of time, significantly increasing the already impressive property portfolio at the company's disposal.

"We are all delighted to have concluded this latest transaction."